Not all Secrets are in the Closet
by xXAngelicHomicideXx
Summary: A young girl named Aubrey discovers a terrible truth about her father that will change her life forever. One of my favorite pieces, if not one of my best. Yet another original.


Not All Secrets Are In the Closet

He was never home. At least, that's what I used to think. Now I know that he was around more often than I'd thought. I was only twelve when I discovered the horrible truth about my father.

I was a curious child, and was often chastised for venturing beyond the borders my father set me. I have no mother. She died when I was only four. I have few friends, for I am a very shy person. I attend a private school that's name is of no consequence. I have gone there my entire school life, yet met only three people I consider to be friends: Rachel, Elena and Jason. They are my best friends and they were with me when I learned the truth about my father.

It was a Thursday after school. Rachel, Elena and Jason had walked home with me and we were sitting up in my room.

"I'm bored Aubrey," Elena complained. She was sprawled out on my double bed.

"So do something," I replied. "You know where everything is."

"But that means I have to get _up_!"

Jason chuckled from where he lay on my floor, textbooks spread around him. Jason was two years older than us – in the eighth grade.

Elena sat up and glared at him. "How is that funny!" she demanded. It was Rachel's turn to laugh, and Elena rounded on her. "You too!"

I laughed as well. "Calm down Lena. What do you want to do?" I asked her. I was lounging in my computer chair, my legs stretched across the space between my desk and my dresser. Rachel stood and flopped onto my bed, which gave a protesting squeak.

Elena sighed dramatically. "I think we should explore your house." She looked at me. "You know, we've been friends with you for eight years and the only rooms of this house we've seen are your bedroom, the kitchen, the movie room, and the bathroom."

"You have to admit," Jason put in, "It's a very nice bathroom."

Elena scowled at him as Rachel and I laughed. You could always count on Jason for the witty one-liners.

"I agree!" Rachel exclaimed. "My mom wants to paint our bathroom neon yellow with green polka dots."

I raised an eyebrow. "Wow."

Rachel shrugged. "You know how my mom is."

"Yes, we do," Elena laughed. Rachel's mom, Anna, was a very eccentric woman, and a relatively famous artist. I had two of her works hanging in my bedroom, and others were located throughout the house (my father wasn't concerned with decorations, so he left it up to me).

"Then there you go," Rachel said with another shrug, as if that were an explanation in itself.

"I still want to see the rest of your house though, Aub," Elena said, picking up the previous topic.

I sighed. "My dad doesn't like me wandering around the house for no reason."

Jason sat up. "Why not? It's your house too."

I shrugged. "He just doesn't. There's a lot of expensive things in here." It wasn't a lie, just a half truth. My father never really told me why he didn't like me wandering around, he just didn't. Over the years, the boundaries had grown. Except for one – I was not to go into the basement for any reason.

Elena leapt to her feet and pulled me to mine. "Come _on _Aubrey! He's not home, and he'll never know!"

"No, Lena. I've seen this movie. You say that, and then something's gonna happen that's gonna give us all away." I sat back down only to have Elena pull me back up.

"Awe, don't be such a spoil sport."

"Drop it Elena." We all turned to Jason, surprised. He rarely stood up for me. Generally, he was the one who teased me the most. "She just doesn't want to show us her house because she's secretly a murderer and is hiding the bodies in the floorboards, so the rest of the house smells." Of course. What had made me think he would stick up for me? I could be really dumb sometimes.

"I am not a murderer!" I countered.

"Prove it," he replied with a smirk.

"Fine!"

I glared at him before leaving my room. But I wasn't out fast enough to miss his last words, "And _that_ is how you do that." Laughing, my friends followed after me.

I showed them around my house like they'd asked, and we were in the movie room choosing a movie to watch when Elena paused.

"Hey Aubrey? Where's this door go to?" she asked.

I turned in time to see her reaching for the doorknob to the basement door. "No!" I exclaimed.

Elena's hand jerked away from the door. "What?"

"I'm not allowed down there."

"Just like you weren't allowed wandering around the house?" Jason asked with a laugh.

I didn't laugh. I'd tried going down to the basement once. I'd seen my dad go down there and then the police had called, so I'd gone to find him. There were still scars on my arms and legs from him knocking me into a glass table. I had only been seven and from that day on, I had been afraid of my father.

"No," I answered, my voice monotone.

The humor faded from Jason's face as he remembered what I'd gone through. "Sorry," he apologized. My friends had all seen the bruises from my dad knocking me around. I forbade them to tell anyone what they were from, or make a big deal about it.

"Sorry Aub." Elena walked back to look at the shelves of DVD's

I looked at the door. Now that it had been brought to my attention, it felt like something was drawing me toward it.

"Oooooh! Aubrey! Can we watch _Saw_?"

Rachel's voice snapped me out of it. I looked over at her. "How many times have you seen that movie, Rach?"

"Only five… or twelve times," Rachel admitted sheepishly. She sighed and put it back on the shelf.

"Aub? Why do you have Tinker Bell in here?" Elena asked.

I turned to her. "It's yours. You left it here last week."

"Oh! That's why I couldn't find it! Can we watch it?"

"No!" Rachel exclaimed. "Disney movies are wussy!"

"Are not!"

I sighed at my friends' bickering. I turned to Jason, who was scanning the higher shelves. "Find anything?" I asked.

"That depends on what you think I'm looking for."

"Huh?"

"Well, there's plenty of good movies, but I'm pretty sure I left my sanity here somewhere and I'm hoping it will pop up like Elena's DVD did." He looked down at me, blue eyes sparkling with mirth

I laughed. "Nah, I think I threw that out. It didn't seem too awfully important"

We both laughed and he pulled a movie off the top shelf at random.

"We're watching _Fight Club_!" I announced

"What's that?" Elena asked. Her and Rachel had stopped their arguing.

"It's got Brad Pitt in it," Rachel stated boredly.

Elena squealed and vaulted over the back of the couch. "Put it in! Put it in!"

Laughing, I did so, not even bothering to look at the rating. My father didn't care what movies I watched or what books I read, just as long as I was occupied.

Halfway through the movie, Elena was the only one still paying attention. Jason was doing homework again, and Rachel was reading. I hadn't been able to focus on the movie, so I gave up trying to pay attention. Now that my friends had brought it up, my father's reasons (or lack thereof) for my not being allowed to wander our house didn't make sense.

My curiosity getting the better of me, I got up and went to the kitchen to call my dad.

He picked up on the third ring. "Hey Aub, what's up?" He was in a good mood. That was good.

"Hey Dad. Just wondering what you wanted for dinner."

"Hmm. Why don't you just order Chinese? Are Jason, Rachel and Elena there?"

I paused before replying, "Yes."

"Order enough for them too." He was in a _really _good mood.

"Okay."

"'Kay. I gotta get back to work, I've got a meeting, but I shouldn't be late. If I am, just eat without me. Bye sweetheart"

"'Kay, bye Dad."

He hung up and I hit 'end'.

I went back to the movie room and quietly opened the basement door and slipped down the stairs. What I saw there would haunt me forever. The bodies were _not_ in the floorboards., but rather, strung up along the walls and laid on tables. There were racks and counters covered in surgical tools, and the bodies showed just what those tools had been used for. I didn't want to imagine why my father had done what he'd done, and I never dwelled on it. All I remember past then that night was screaming and screaming, and not stopping, even as men in bullet-proof vests pulled my hysterical self up the stairs, then a lot of crying.

Six years later, at graduation, with Rachel and Elena at my side, my eyes automatically scan the crowd, but, not surprisingly, I don't see him.

The bodies in the basement tied my father to thirty-eight other murders and Rachel's mother adopted me so I wouldn't have to leave my friends.

My eyes finally find Anna and I smile and wave. Jason – my boyfriend of three years now – is standing beside her, and he grins at me, giving me a thumbs-up. People are right when they say that friends are the family you choose. I don't have any of my biological family left, but I couldn't ask for better friends.


End file.
